Wherever You'll Go

Nashville: From one music city to another

48 hours isn’t nearly enough time to explore any city, but I did the best I could in Nashville. I arrived with the specific goal of finishing the Nashville Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, anything else would be a bonus.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was my makeup race from the Mississippi Blues fiasco. Since that race was cancelled, they generously offered a free race entry into a handful of Rock ‘n’ Roll branded races. I decided on Nashville because I hadn’t been there in 20 years, and knew it would offer a tough but fun course. Unfortunately for me, all the half marathons slots
were taken by the time I made a decision. So I signed up for the full with no real intentions of doing anything more than a half. The Rock ‘n’ Roll races are great in that you can change to a shorter distance without notice, if needed. Plus, I’d never run a full marathon before and figured there were better things to do with six hours!

About a month before the race, and no, I have no idea why my brain did this, I thought to myself, “Well, what if I do the full?” I figured since I was going to Nashville alone, no one would be waiting for hours for me to finish, and I had nothing else to do and nothing to lose, except some lbs. (NOTE: No pounds were lost in the process.) That was a mistake. There was A LOT I could have been doing. It must have been one of those irrational things you tell yourself when faced with fear.

So, I started training for a full marathon…for a month. To be fair, I didn’t start from square one. I knew I could run 13 miles, but friends, just because you can easily eat half a pizza doesn’t mean you should just eat the whole thing. I planned to train for the full and then make a decision. My longest run was 19 miles but I decided to go for it, my mind was made up. And then the week before the race, emails were sent to the runners warning us to take precautions and plan for a hot race day.  My last run, the weekend before the race, was 50 degrees in Austin. I knew the race was going to be brutal, but I do love a challenge.
I landed in Nashville Friday morning, and hopped on the local bus ($1.75) which dropped me right at the convention center for the expo. After collecting my race packet and bag of random samples, I headed to The Stillery for lunch. I found this place on Yelp, and headed upstairs after the hostess pointed me in the direction of live music.

The musician sang the required Johnny Cash hits, as I tried to eat a huge hamburger…you know, carb loading. Then I walked over to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I spent a couple hours browsing the instruments, costumes, stories and Elvis’ gold-plated car. Then I realized I’d been up since 5am, and should really get off my feet. So, I jumped on a b-cycle. I could bike to about a half mile to my hotel, then I’d have to walk the rest.

My sweet friends ordered some snacks to be left at my hotel, so as I lay in bed eating chex-mix and gummy bears I decided I was too tired get dinner. About 9:30pm, I saw fireworks over the Nashville Sounds baseball stadium. I was bummed I didn’t think to go to the game, but I had a big day ahead of me.

Runners on the big screen, as we rounded the bases. That was a home run for me!

It felt like just a couple hours later, I started walking to the starting line. I met a few other runners heading to the race, a couple ladies ordered a taxi who then couldn’t get there because of the road closures. I expected as much, and headed to the nearest B-cycle station, and biked to a couple blocks from the start. They were right about the heat, I was already sweating as I entered my corral. The race had great spectators, and there were lots of sprinklers and other water stations to help keep us cool, but the hills and the heat were wearing on the soul. The race course took us through many neighborhoods, down Music Row, we even got to run the bases at the Sounds’ stadium, and ended at Nissan Stadium, the home of the Titans. The miles went on and on, but after five plus hours, I rounded the last corner and earned my medal. Now, I just had to walk a mile back to the hotel! But for the moment I was jazzed.

Now I was ready to have some fun. That evening I treated myself and took a Lyft over to Tailgate Brewery for pizza and beer, neither of which was super great, but it was nice to sit on the patio and not move. I grabbed a b-cycle and headed to the Ascend Amphitheater for The Band Perry concert. The Rock ‘n’ Roll races always have a headliner
band in addition to the live music on the course. They put on a high energy show and included covers of Freddy Mercury, Cee Lo, and the Eurythmics. I was quite impressed. After the concert, I headed down Broadway to check out Music Row. But it didn’t take long for me to realize I was beat. This is definitely a city I would enjoy visiting again, just without racing next time.

Tips:

• A rental car is not necessary if you plan to stay around downtown. They have good and some free public transportation, bike rentals and ride-shares.

Treble clef bike racks of course.